Kumori
by P260even
Summary: "She would be the beginning of a new age" they said. She would change the way their life was lived. Her life, and the life of her children, would change their world forever... ShinoxOC
1. Routine

"Ayakage, you take Kumori to a safe place while i hold them off!"

"But, A-"

"Just do it Aya! You don't have much time before they reach the clearing. I love you more than anything, and that is why I'm making you do this. Go. Now!"

* * *

She had been having this dream for years and it still disrupted her sleep. There were never any clear images, just those voices and scattered images that she soon forgot when she woke up. She didn't mind having the dream since it was the only connection she had left with her parents. It had been years since she had seen her mother, and her father had died about a month before she had left the small house outside of the village to come to live with her uncle Shibi.

She had been about to turn five years old. Her mother had periodically shown up for about a year, but she hadn't returned since her visit about two weeks before her sixth birthday. Today was Kumori's tenth birthday; the fifth anniversary of her father's death and the fourth anniversary of her mother's disappearance. She went through her normal routine for the occasion: she got up early and made breakfast for Shibi and Shino to eat after she had left and she walked to the temple. There she lit an incense for her father, greeted him and asked him to watch over her mother. She would then proceed to light incense for her mother, and ask that she be kept safe where ever she was traveling and that, eventually, she would be returned to her. She would reassure her parents, and herself, that she understood why her parents were gone, and that she was doing well and that she wasn't alone; she would remind herself that she still had some "family" back at the compound.

The reassuring herself always took longer on her birthday. She would follow that routine, from the day of her father's death till her birthday, for an entire month. The small celebration that Shibi always did the day after her birthday was nice, but she always knew that she wasn't going to be like other kids. Her closest family was her "Uncle" Shibi who in reality was hardly related to her mother in the first place; they had been so distantly related that they had an arranged engagement as children that they later broke off as they grew older. And then there was Shino; he was the quiet boy that she had met the day she had arrived at the compound. He was Shibi's son, making him some cousin so far removed that she was no more related to him then the Hokage. Shibi had introduced them, and he had always been terribly civil with her. When they were young he watched out for her and often offered quiet advice and warnings, that for a long time she ignored and learned, the hard way, that, more often than not, he was right, about everything. As they grew older, she began lessons in self defense and the basic shinobi arts from Shibi and seeing that Shino was at the academy most of the day, they weren't really related and never really spent much time together, it became awkward and they distanced from each other.

As she headed back to the compound she looked at her addition to the main house. Shibi had seen it fit to give her a place where she would have privacy. He had an addition built onto their kitchen where she came to live. She had her own front entrance, her own bedroom, bathroom, and even a private workroom connected to her garden where she would dry, grind, and mix her herbs into various teas, lotions and creams. As she walked through her workroom, she continued to her garden; it had originally been four rows of different spices that she often used for cooking, and now it had expanded to a large lot that now included a shed, a small greenhouse and a courtyard. She didn't go out much, let alone leave the compound, and so she had spent most of her time in her garden either planting and grooming it, or just meditating in her courtyard. It was a cobblestone circle in the center that had two benches on the border, and an interesting tiling that she had done in the center of the circle. The tiled pattern wasn't of anything specific, just a geometric design she found calming, and provided the perfect place for her to sit and meditate uninterrupted.

Mostly anyways...

Not only did her kaiki like to roam about while she was in her garden, but at particular times her uncle Shibi would try and surprise her while she was supposedly 'unawares.' On days like these she would pretend she hadn't noticed him, and continue with her chakra practice. For her, half the test was to see if she could avoid showing any sign that would let the 'enemy' they had been found out. Just because it was Shibi did not mean that she could let down her guard either. On one occasion he had done nothing and just let her sit and sweat, another time she had barely noticed him before he was attacking her ruthlessly. Sometimes he sent his kaiki by themselves and sometimes he didn't show up at all; he was never predictable. She was just settling into her meditation when she noticed the chakra at the edge of her garden. The chakra was suppressed and she couldn't discern it. As she focused on this one entity, another appeared in the opposite corner. The chakra signature was familiar, but still not definite and not as well hidden as the other; Shibi had brought a friend.

She heard buzzing from both ends of her garden as she rolled and dodged the initial surge of kaiki.

Correction: Shibi had brought a relative.

* * *

"I yield." she said as Shibi held her captive on the ground. She had been caught unawares and now he had her pinned. She had come out of a fall wrong and he had pinned her right arm under her body, grabbed her left arm and used it to push her torso to the ground while he kneeled on her legs. As Shibi let her up she flipped over and shook her arms out. She had been easily defeated by her trained relatives; it was embarrassing really, to go down so easily. Her uncle always told her how good she was without any formal training, but she knew that if she were really under attack, she would be in trouble. Her housemates were heading back toward the compound while she sat in the grass field where their fight had migrated. This had become a routine between her and Shibi: they would have their session, and then he would leave her to her to her own thoughts about the match. Even two years after that first bout when Shibi and Shino double teamed her when she was ten she still couldn't defeat two opponents, especially not two opponents who had trained all their lives. Being twelve, like her, Shino was graduating from the academy already, and even after two years she could still only beat him occasionally when she caught him unawares.

She dropped her elbows on her knees and rubbed her head; these wretched headaches would always come around whenever she tried to access the chakra she knew she had. Often it seemed like she was short-circuiting her system, and in the end she would not be able to do anything in her own defense. She felt disoriented, and her body never seemed to do what she wanted it to. The only answer she had been able to find to her dilemma was meditation, and even then she felt like she was divided; like there were two separate, distinct parts of her. She felt divided. She felt that if she didn't get some sort of control, she would slowly rip down the center.

At times like this, a warm cup of tea and a nap were in order. As she walked into her addition she could hear someone talking loudly in the kitchen through the cracked door,

"Who will train her Shibi? Others her age are graduating from the Academy, she is twelve already." She recognized the voice of the Hokage and froze.

"You don't have the time, or the means, she's obviously not the average Aburame-"

"You don't think i know that?" She was surprised to hear that tone of voice coming from her Uncle. There was a pause and then he began to speak again, but too quietly for her to hear without getting closer. She strained her hearing and caught a few scattered words,

"...the hunters from Cloud...she's always been different...time away...her father's family..." at the mention of her father she was torn; she wanted to know more, but she also knew that things involving her parents were not often spoken.

Shibi finished what he had been saying and she decided that she should make her presence known. She walked down the hall audibly and then opened the door leading to the kitchen. As she opened the door, she saw that the third Hokage was leaning against the counter and that he had been the one to brew the tea that he and Shibi were drinking. Shino was nowhere to be found and Shibi was sitting at the small breakfast table. She bowed to the Hokage and said,

"Please forgive the intrusion" he nodded at her and pulled out his pipe to chew on.

"Don't worry," he smiled at her, "i was just leaving." He turned to Shibi and said, "Let me know if you find anyone for the job. We need to solve this soon." he began to walk away but he turned back and said, "Oh and Kumori, try and have a pleasant birthday."

With that he nodded and showed himself out of the house. She walked slowly out of the doorway and started reheating the water.

"Do you want more tea?" she asked as she took down another cup for herself. She realized that Shibi wasn't paying attention after he didn't respond in some way. She refilled his cup, left him with his thoughts and took her tea elsewhere. She began to hum morosely,

"Happy Birthday to me..."

* * *

So...

This is about the third time i have tried to rewrite this story, and i think i might have gotten it right this time around (hopefully). It's still centered around the girl Kumori, she is still an Aburame, etc. etc. there are mostly just stylistic changes in the writing.

Also, if you didn't catch the small time jumps, they are not as obvious as before. The first section is a dream from her childhood, the second section is her tenth birthday, and the third section we jump to her twelfth birthday. i apologize if that wasn't very clear...

Thank you for all your patience, Enjoy!

-P260even


	2. Decisions

The tea always did the trick. She felt like she was being rocked slowly by waves, and they slowly became faster and faster and then,

She woke up.

"Get ready and meet me outside in about ten minutes. We're going to try something this morning." It was Shibi in the darkness that had shaken her awake. As he left in the dark she got out of bed and got changed. As she headed outside she could see that it was the grayish light of dawn. Shibi was loading a backpack on his back, and offered her one as she approached. She slung it over her shoulder and followed after him as he walked into the bordering forest.

* * *

"Shibi, i feel stupid." They had arrived at this clearing in the forest about an hour ago and since they had arrived she had been meditating and doing her chakra exercises. She was beginning to get a headache as she tried to control her chakra and go through the most basic of motions. It didn't help that during her exercises Shibi was making her hold this small piece of chakra paper. The more he told her to focus on the paper, the harder it was for her chakra to reach the paper.

"We need to do this in order for us to advance your training Kumori. Why don't you tell me what is making it so difficult for your chakra to function correctly." She didn't think he realized that his intense staring at the little piece of paper in her hand didn't help her relax and control her chakra any better. But she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and tried to put her chakra to use. She began to explain what she felt:

"It feels, like my chakra is split. it feels like there are two halves of one magnet and the more i try to use them both together on one jutsu, the more these halves want to tear me apart. It feels like two different chakras are battling underneath my skin. One chakra by itself wouldn't be nearly as strong, but trying to force the two together is slowly splitting me apart." as she finished what she was saying she heard Shibi digging around in his bag.

"Here," he said "take this." he was shoving another piece of paper in her hand. She tried to give him back the original piece of paper but he shook his head and said.

"No, you need both of them. Put one piece of paper in each hand and try to evenly distribute these two chakras on each paper. One halve to your left hand and one halve to your right." She was apprehensive, but decided she might as well go along with his plans like she had been all morning. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. It was interesting to try and focus on two chakras at once. She opened her eyes and slowly let the two separate chakras proceed down her arms and into her hands. As she watched, the paper in her left hand began to disintegrate into dust while the paper in her right hand began to crumple in on itself. She stopped the chakra flow and was amazed at how much more control she had if she stopped trying to force the two different chakras in her body together.

"I was afraid this might be the case." Shibi said slightly disgruntled. "Your lightning chakra is interfering with your earth chakra." Kumori was confused; he made it sound like such a disappointment that she had something that was other than expected. He had talked to her about nature manipulation before and about how if an Aburame had particularly excitable chakra it would make the kaiki difficult to control; but the way he talked about this now made it sound like she was a... disappointment.

"I don't know who could train you to keep it under control... to have two such opposing chakras..." he continued to mutter as he thought, talking to her in a sense but not really expecting an answer. He finally seemed to make up his mind. He sighed,

"At least we've made progress today. Now that we have this information we'll see about someone training you. Let's go home." He smiled at her and they started back. She knew that something as simple as an unusual chakra nature couldn't make Shibi hate her or anything, but she was hurt by his reaction. It felt like he was rejecting a part of her, and by doing that, rejecting a part of her parents; and that was one thing you didn't talk to Kumori about.

They walked back to the compound in silence.

* * *

"...But no one has the _time_..."

They had hashed, and _re_hashed this same conversation countless times in the weeks since they had established her chakra natures. She didn't really understand why she was here during these meetings; she never said anything, they never asked her opinion, and overall, there was no positive outcome from these brainstorming sessions. As she, Shibi and the Hokage were in the Hokage's office running the same list of names by each other again, she decided she couldn't stand it anymore. Very calmly she stood up and, when both Shibi and the Hokage stopped speaking, she said,

"Please excuse me, i am very tired. If you don't mind, I'll leave for the compound first." With that she bowed and walked calmly through the doors and left.

* * *

She was done placing her letter where Shibi would eventually find it, and gathered the supplies that she had been putting together for the past week. She double checked to make sure that she had everything she would need for her journey; she had a good hour and a half before Shibi came home from his meeting and Shino wouldn't return from his mission with his team till the next morning. She didn't have to worry about the rest of the Aburame's on the compound; they wouldn't bother one of her many forays into the woods. To any stray gate guards she would seem like a civilian going on a journey, and anybody else that did happen to see her wouldn't know who she was or where she was supposed to be.

She took one last look around her addition and then shut and locked the door behind her. She had made up her mind, and she wouldn't put off her training any longer.

* * *

Dear Uncle Shibi,

I've decided to not put my training on hold anymore.

I don't know how long I will be gone, but I will come back.

Stay safe, I will return.

-Kumori

* * *

Disclaimer: Kumori and all her future posterity (as well as her parents and a few other million people in this crazy family tree) belong to me. Any other Naruto characters do not.

Also, for all of those who found me through my first Fanfiction "A Leaf in the Mist" I will be removing it from the site soon so... if you feel you need to do something with it... (I don't know what... please don't save it... its kind of icky...) do so soon. And for those of you who HAVEN'T read it, don't worry about it. You aren't missing much. Thanks!

-P260even


End file.
